Alarmist headlines claiming Suchitra Sen is in a hospital in a critical condition are cut down by the legendary actress' grand daughter ,the lovely-in-her-own-right Raima Sen.

Speaking from Kolkata on Monday afternoon Raima who's been stationed in Kolkata for a month now says, `It's true grandmom was very ill. Like last year she again had a respiratory problem. But she's responded very well to the treatment.She is much better now.We should be able to take her home in a couple of days.`

In fact such is Suchitra Sen's recovery that Raima is all set to party with her sister over the New Year eve. `For the past few days I've been only at the hospital. But now that Grandma's breathing is back to normal I can breathe easy.All our friends are here in Kolkata.So for Riya and me all the 'happening' parties are in Kolkata.`

Suchitra Sen who is considered a legend in her lifetime has not appeared in a film or in public since 1978.

Says Raima, `You should see the crowds in front of the hospital. It's like the whole of Kolkata has turned up.`

Raima is currently doing something historic in Kolkata. For the first time the she will be seen on screen with her mother Moon Moon Sen and her sister Riya . Entitled Kolkata Calling the film is directed by Mainak Bhowmick.


Says Raima, `It's a Bengali film and my mom is acting with my sister and I for the first time.`

The two sisters have acted together in Rituparno Ghosh's Nauka Dubi.

Raima recalls Rituda with much fondness. `He always said I am the daughter he never had. He treated me like a princess. I miss Rituda all the time. But life moves on , I guess.`

Raima has just shot her most traumatic film to date. In Mriyunjay Devrat's The Bastard Child she is cast as a Bangladeshi woman who is abducted by Pakistani's during Bangladesh's war of liberation in 1971.

Reliving the horror Raima said, `I virtually lived the abducted woman's trauma. The atrocities that she must have gone through just got to me. I felt violated brutalized and compromised.`